The Union Health Ministry on Saturday convened a Joint Monitoring Group Meeting in view of rising cases of respiratory illnesses in China in the past few weeks. In an official release, the Ministry said it was closely monitoring the situation through all available options in China and has also asked the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide regular updates.
It said the situation in China is not “unusual in view of the ongoing flu season”. The reports also suggest that the cause of the present surge is Influenza virus, RSV and HMPV – the usual pathogens that are expected during the season, the release added.
“The government is keeping a close watch over the situation through all available channels and WHO has also been requested to share timely updates regarding the situation in China,” it said.
“These viruses are already in circulation globally including India,” the release further added.
The meeting was held under the Chairmanship of DGHS, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and experts from WHO, the Disaster Management (DM) Cell, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Emergency Medical Relief (EMR) Division, and hospitals, including AIIMS, Delhi participated in the meeting.
- A robust surveillance system for Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) for Influenza is already in place in India through both ICMR and IDSP networks and the data from both indicates no unusual surge in ILI & SARI cases.
- Physicians from hospitals also confirmed that there is no surge in respiratory illness cases in the last few weeks other than the expected seasonal variation.
- ICMR network also tests for other respiratory viruses such as Adenovirus, RSV, HMPV etc. and these pathogens also do not show an unusual increase in the tested samples. As a precautionary measure, the number of laboratories testing for HMPV will be enhanced by ICMR, and ICMR will be monitoring trends of HMPV for the entire year.
- Data from the recently conducted preparedness drill across the Country indicated that the Country is well prepared to deal with any increase in respiratory illnesses.
